“Myth: cable piracy is wrong. Fact: cable companies are big faceless corporations which makes it okay.” – Homer Simpson
Top Line: This movie should have been called “Keke and the Clothes Factory”, it’s weird, bright, funny, and very moral.
Box Score:
| Runtime: | | | 1h54m |
| MPAA Rating: | | | R – strong sexual content, nudity, language throughout and brief drug use. |
| Sweatpants Rating: | | | PG-14 – Kids need to learn about shoplifting and that’s a good age for them to do so. |
| Three Stars: | | |
1. LaKeith Stanfield – This is unfair since he gets the Mercutio role as a cunnilingual sex demon, but it’s great. 2. Poppy Liu – The moral core of the movie also puts on the most physical performance, running, jumping, and bouncing all over the place. 3. Keke Palmer – Nails her many stonefaced jokes as our lead, pulls off a tremendous number of wigs, and, speaking of physical performances, her escape from Demi Moore’s villain office is a highlight. |
| Directed: | | | Boots Riley |
| Written: | | | Also Boots Riley |
| # of Producers: | | | 5 full, 2 co |
Bottom Line: The first question to ask about I Love Boosters is, “did you see Sorry to Bother You?“, Boots Riley’s first movie. If you have seen Sorry to Bother You, then I Love Boosters is the clear second effort, funnier, tighter, and with a far more polished and less tonally ruptured ending. There is plenty of weird shit in this movie, but it’s mostly very playful and fun, including the standout stop motion effects by the delightfully named Mystery Meat Media (two guys from Phil Tippit’s shop).
If you have not seen Sorry to Bother You, this will take more explaining. This is a sort of brightly colored dream world where Demi Moore is an Elizabeth Holmes esque tech mogul/fashion queenpin whose office is in a skyscraper that’s at a 30° degree angle. Ludicrous concepts like teleportation and practical applications for philosophy are instantly accepted. Characters have theoretical real world responsibilities (children, bills), but the movie wisely keeps those off screen (except as giant katamari metaphors) so we can see our gang conduct cool robberies, hang out at their abandoned chicken shack headquarters, and make alliances with dopey white lefties and Chinese factory workers. The girls are kicking ass, getting away with it, and having fun (most of the time).
Riley has a few clear points here – tech overlords fan media panics, conspire with other rich assholes abroad, and hurt people without any more consequences than an unpleasant press conference – and those are delivered within a Tim Burton/Guillermo del Toro style weird fantasy/sci-fi movie. How well that lands with you, the audience member, is gonna depend on how many of the jokes go over and how sensitive you are to abrupt shifts in music, scenes, and overall vibes. The film comes to odd stops for things like the reveal about LaKeith or some of the grosser looking “deconstructions”, then it’s back to candy cane robbery funstuff. If you can roll with that, it’s fun. If you can’t, it’ll be a slog.